Liberty Fest honors local veterans, Nov. 14

Rev your engines and motor over to the south end of Santa Fe College's Northwest campus (by the large flagpole!) for the All American Liberty Fest, a new family-friendly event featuring a motorcycle Flag Run and a car show.

Sponsored by Santa Fe's Collegiate Veterans Society, this first-annual festival, 11 a.m-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, replaces the Bikers on Parade event as the fundraiser for Alachua County veterans' associations.

"We're hoping to get a lot of donations, because this one event holds over the veteran organizations for the entire year," said Tamsen Pintler, Santa Fe College's veterans' advocate specialist. "This is what sustains them, so I hope everybody opens their minds, their hearts, and their pockets to keep great veterans' organizations in Gainesville."

The All American Liberty Fest represents an official Veterans Affairs (VA) "Welcome Home" event, and a mobile unit from the VA hospital will be available enrolling veterans for their services and administering flu shots to those already enrolled. Veterans can also sign up for unemployment benefits at the event, thanks to the Florida Works Veterans Employment Services.

While grease monkeys can get their fill of automobiles old and new at the motorcycle run and car show, bounce houses, clowns, face painting, and a rock-climbing wall will be among the attractions aimed at the younger set. 

Other attractions include a SWAT team exhibit, military vehicles, and a Gainesville police department K9 demonstration. Food vendors will be out in force, and several musicians are booked for the event, including the country-rock group Sin Waggin' and Hartley Leacock's collective format band.

Leading this year's festivities is honorary chair Joe Galloway, a newspaper correspondent famous for co-authoring the book We Were Soldiers Once... And Young, which was adapted into a 2002 Mel Gibson movie.